Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul Joins A Long Way Down

Aaron Paul has earned a lot of deserved acclaim for his portrayal as Jesse in AMC's Breaking Bad, and now he's joining the cast of the feature adaptation of Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down, filling the last of the four lead roles in the drama, which is set to be directed by Pascal Chaumeil.

Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down is set in London and follows four strangers whose lives collide when they meet on New Year's Eve at the top of the building where each had planned to commit suicide. This awkward encounter leads to them telling their stories and postponing their suicidal plans. A friendship forms from there.

In the feature adaptation, which starts shooting next month in London, Pierce Brosnan is playing disgraced celebrity Martin Sharp and Toni Collette - who also appeared in the feature adaptation of Hornby's About a Boy - is playing Maureen, the mother of a disabled son. 28 Weeks Later's Imogen Poots is playing teenager Jess, and according to Deadline, Aaron Paul has signed on to play "a pizza delivery man," which is presumably the novel's character JJ, who's American and an aspiring rock star.

Paul's addition is a great bit of casting for the film. With Breaking Bad just a few episodes away from finishing up the first half of its final season, we'll hopefully be hearing more updates on the cast's feature and TV projects going forward. Paul has been nominated three times for an Emmy award in his role as Jesse Pinkman in the AMC drama series, one of which, he won (with one nomination to be determined). It's been a while since I read A Long Way Down, but from what I remember of the role, it sounds like a good fit for Paul, and one more opportunity for him to demonstrate his substantial talent as an actor.